This USB port gets around

I’ll keep it short. Back story: I work as desktop support for a GIS firm. They use planes to create 3d mapping data that will then at times be sent out on HDD to consumers.

So, this morning I get to work and there is a ticket that her USB mouse and keyboard wont work, she unplugged them from the USB hub and into the machine and still nothing. Okay. I go over there with a new mouse and a flash drive with drive cleanup on it. (At this point i should mention that she has all 10 USB ports filled with for USB cords dangling ready to be plugged in when she needs them along with a couple that are on her desk. In all she probably uses probably 15 USB devices regularly and at times needs to plug in 4-5 more).

So I reboot, the mouse and USB drive work, and I run drive cleanup, which is a utility that removes the drivers for old USB mass storage devices freeing up the drive letters and cutting back on possible conflicting USB devices. When it was done it produced a list of the # of devices it removed:

60 USB thumb drives, 65 USB Hard drives and 100+ other USB devices

I had just done this for her about 2 months ago. Suffice it to say we ordered her a card with 7 more ports to reduce the amount of swapping.